Cashing in on the comparatively delayed schedule announced by the Election Commission for Kerala Assembly election, the Congress party has decided not to rush through the process of selection of its candidates. The EC has set May 16 as the date for polling in the State.
A final list of Congress candidates will now be drawn up only by the end of March though a list of probable candidates is likely to be submitted to the national leadership on Tuesday. Also, the Congress, leader of the ruling UDF, is likely to contest more seats this time for the front than it had contested in the 2011 State elections.
At the same time, the bilateral discussions between the Congress and the other constituents of the UDF on sharing the seats are continuing without any success. On Monday, the party held talks with three of its minor allies but it had to decide to continue the discussions later as no understanding could be reached at.
After a meeting of the top leadership of the party at Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, State Congress president VM Sudheeran said that the Congress would complete the discussions on seat-sharing among its allies “at the earliest”. Most of the Congress’s UDF partners have staked claim for more seats than they had contested in the last polls.
Sources in the Congress admitted that group considerations would surely play a big role in the selection of candidates as usual but claimed that particular care would be taken to ensure that only candidates with winnability were being fielded. The leadership had instructed to aspirants to avoid staking claims publicly but this has not achieved the desired result.
“There is no need for any rush. As polling would be held only on May 16 (in the last election, April 13 was the polling date), and notification will be issued only on April 22, we have enough time to draw up a good list. There is enough time for decisions, revisions, assessment, etc,” said a source close to Sudheeran.
On Monday, the Congress leadership held bilateral discussions with minor allies RSP, Kerala Congress (Jacob) and the CMP (CP John group) but there was no understanding on the number of seats each of them would get to contest. Talks will now be held between the Congress and these parties on March 10 and 11.
The RSP, which had won three seats in the last polls, is demanding eight seats to contest this time but the Congress is not willing to give more than five to it. The present RSP is an amalgamation of two sections: One (RSP) which was part of the CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF till March, 2014 and the other — RSP (B) — led by labour Minister Shibu Baby John.
The chief dispute with Kerala Congress (Jacob), which had contested in three seats in the last polls, is over the Congress’s plan to take over the Angamaly seat it had contested in 2011 and this issue might take some time to get solved, according to sources. The CMP is asking for three seats but it will have to be satisfied with one.
In the meantime, UDF convener and senior Congress leader PP Thankachan said that the Congress party might contest more seats in the upcoming Assembly election than it had contested in the 2011 polls. “I can’t right now say how many seats we will be contesting. However, I can say that the number will not be smaller but will be greater,” he said.
In the context of the recent split in the Kerala Congress (M) and departure of certain other small parties from the front, the Congress may find some way to make the allies agree to this proposal. But front partners who are demanding more seats are pointing out that the Congress had contested in 82 seats in the last polls and was defeated in more than half of these seats.
Thankachan said that some preliminary understanding had already been reached at within the UDF by which each constituent would be contesting in the seats it had won in the last election. The UDF had bagged 72 seats in the State Assembly in the 2011 election managing to grab power while the CPI(M)-led lDF won 68 seats.